


It can be winter wherever we are

by melonbutterfly



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, M/M, Mutant, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-10
Updated: 2011-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-01 18:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/359833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In honor of the time of year, Zach prepares a surprise for his boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It can be winter wherever we are

Zach emptied one last bucket of water onto the ice plane that he had made their backyard into, smoothing it out so it was completely even, no cracks or rifts or anything. Once he was sure he had succeeded, he told the water to go solid and took a satisfied step back to take it in. The sun was shining bright and hot in the sky and it didn't quite match with the way their backyard looked, but it certainly matched the time of year – it was almost Christmas.

And that was why he had done this; the sun wasn't supposed to shine so bright at Christmas, at least not according to Chris. It wasn't supposed to be boarding on thirty degrees on Christmas Eve. At first Zach had only thought Chris enjoyed bitching about it (he did like to complain about a lot of things), but he had come to realize that it truly bothered Chris. Unfortunately, there was not much to be done about it save for travelling across the globe, which was out of question. Zoe refused to teleport them 'just to help Chris get over his hissy fit', which was kind of bitchy of her, but also understandable because it took a great chunk of energy out of her, especially with such great a distance and such a high number of people, never mind that they didn't have a place to stay anyway.

So Zach had to try to make Chris happy with his own ability as best as he was able to. It had taken lot of practice over the past couple of weeks out of him; the sun was strong and Zach couldn't control temperature, only the aggregate state of water, so he had to permanently concentrate on each molecule of water to keep it solid. Only recently he had become completely sure he could hold it out for long enough without becoming useless and could get on with his surprise for Chris, turning their backyard into an ice rink with even a bit of snow dusting the bushes. They wouldn't need any gloves or scarves or hats, because it would still be as hot as usual, but they could skate, and that was better than nothing, Zach figured. He hoped it would cheer Chris up at least a little.

As if on a cue, Zach heard a car pull up in front of the house, then a door slam and the car drive away again. A second later, someone opened the front door to their house and Chris called, only slightly sarcastic, "Honey, I'm home!"

Zach grinned and walked into the house to greet him; he was ridiculously excited, perhaps more excited than Chris would be.

"Where is everyone?", Chris asked, confused as he carelessly dropped his backpack in the hallway.

"Out," Zach replied and pulled Chris in to hug him. Chris huffed but went willingly, melting into the embrace as he rarely did. He was still in the stage where it embarrassed him to show displays of affection in public, and to him, public meant 'everyone but Zach'. Zach didn't really mind; he wasn't much older than Chris, not even a year, and wasn't really keen on playing tonsil hockey with an audience either. Even if said audience only consisted of their friends, which were basically their family nowadays. They were certainly better than their real families, because they accepted each other without reservations, never giving each other shit because of their abilities, even if they caused inconveniences.

Chris held on tighter than he usually would, and Zach bit his lip. "Everything alright?", he asked quietly, carefully; Chris was sometimes a little skittish and felt easily pressurized. He hadn't been with them for long yet, only a couple of months which, compared with the two years he had spent living on the street, was practically nothing.

"Hm," Chris made, then took a breath and said "Practice didn't go so well."

"Want to talk about it?", Zach asked, and Chris grimaced into his shoulder. Zach knew Chris couldn't wait for the day when he'd be able to practice mostly on his own, like Zach, without needing to go to an instructor daily.

Chris just grunted; they both knew Zach couldn't help him much. Nobody could; it would just take time. Only practice would teach Chris the patience and concentration he needed to control his fire. But he knew that, Zach knew that, they all knew that, and Zach figured if Bruce had sent him home, that meant Chris had had enough training for the day.

"Hey," he thus said, unable to rein in his grin, and pulled back. "I've got a surprise for you!"

"Oh yeah?" Chris skeptically raised one eyebrow, but at least didn't make a quip, which told Zach that he was looking forwards to whatever it was he had planned.

"Yep." Zach grinned widely and took Chris' hand to drag him through the living room and kitchen. For one moment he pondered telling Chris to close his eyes, but he figured it was a bit much, and so he just dragged Chris out onto the veranda, said "Ta-daa!" and presented the ice surface with a flourish.

Chris blinked. Blinked again, said "Is that-?", but before Zach could reply, he whooped and threw his arms around Zach's neck, laughing. "You made ice for me?", he asked, and Zach nodded, wrapping both arms around his boyfriend's waist.

"Yeah. You were complaining about the sun and that it isn't supposed to be this warm for Christmas, so I figured I'd… you know, give you a Christmas feeling for at least a little bit."

Chris laughed and tightened his grip on Zach, then turned him so he could look at the ice over Zach's shoulder. Then he paused. "It's not too much for you is it?"

"Nah." Zach shook his head, rubbing his chin into Chris' shoulder. "I practiced. Don't worry. I wouldn't give you something as a present if it hurt me."

He didn't imagine Chris relaxing marginally, though previously he hadn't noticed him tensing up a little. Chris hugged him so hard Zach almost lost balance and said quietly, "And you remembered."

"Yeah." Of course he did. Chris spoke about his past very rarely, especially the time before, with his family. So even if Zach wouldn't take care to know and remember everything about Chris, he would remember when Chris told him how he had gone ice skating every winter with his sister. Before he had been cast out of his home for accidentally setting something on fire at the dinner table.

But that wasn't something they were going to think or talk about now; they both were supposed to relax, have some fun and not think about anything serious, especially not their families. So Zach patted Chris on the back and gently pulled away, kissing him on the lips briefly before he went to get the skates. "Sooo," he said, presenting them to Chris. "You wanna go ice skating?"

Chris laughed. "For sure, man!"

So they skated. Zach was actually pretty bad because while he did learn as a kid, he hadn't actually done it that often, and it was not at all like riding a bike – at least not at the beginning. After a while he thankfully got the hang of it again and stopped falling constantly in hilarious ways that made Chris howl with laughter, which had had its own merit, but probably wasn't worth the giant bruises and muscle aches Zach would be sporting soon. At least it gave them opportunity for a lot of body contact, because Chris took it upon himself to help Zach, but more often than not, all they managed to achieve was fall down together, preferably on top of each other. Zach got the impression that Chris actually liked that better, because when Zach managed to stay on his feet for longer than five minutes, Chris 'accidentally' bumped into him or brushed him by or just totally unsubtly crashed into him, sending them both tumbling again. The sun was blaring down at them, but the ice was cool by default, so they were both cold and hot. Zach would never have thought that could actually be fun, but it was.

After almost two hours, they took a break and went inside for some hot chocolate (they must, Chris claimed, citing tradition and the fact that the hot chocolate was at least as important as the ice, even if they didn't really need to warming up), and Chris finally noticed that they're still alone. "So you threw the others out?"

"Uh-uh," Zach nodded. "But they'll come back in a bit, and they'll probably want to join us."

"Hm." Chris slid closer on the kitchen bank and snuggled into Zach's side, unusually touchy-feely, not that Zach minded. "That's alright. Did they help?"

"Only Karl, he made sure the ice wouldn't hurt the grass or plants or insects."

"Really?" Chris blinked. "I didn't even think of that. How did he do that?"

Zach shrugged. "Told them to go away, whatever, I have no idea how that actually is supposed to work."

"Whatever." Chris shrugged as well. Then he sat up straight as if he had suddenly thought of something and looked Zach in the eye with a twinkle. "Guess we should get this out of the way before they arrive, huh?"

Before Zach could ask what he meant, Chris practically _pounced_ , almost jumping into Zach's lap and shoving his tongue into his mouth without even giving Zach the chance to gasp. They snogged for a while until all the taste of chocolate was gone from their mouths. Chris was writhing on top of him so enticingly- but they couldn't go there, not yet. Not because they hadn't been there before – they had, they had even gotten to the point of being naked together without being _completely_ embarrassed – but because for one, it wasn't the right time, and second, they hadn't gotten to the point where anything sexual felt like a normal part of their relationship yet. It was special.

So Zach slowed their kiss down and Chris pulled back a little, making room between their bodies without parting them completely. They didn't keep kissing much longer, only until Chris pulled away completely and, cupping Zach's face, rested their foreheads together.

They were both panting and trying to calm their racing hearts, which took a while, but when they were halfway decent again Chris sat back – still on Zach's lap – and leant his elbows on the table, looking up at his boyfriend coyly. Chris was very good at coy (just like he was good at being cheeky), it was kind of adorable, and really sexy, and it made Zach's heart skip for more than one reason. "Let's get outside again," he said, and his voice sounded like he was suggesting something else.

Zach grinned, if a little shakily, and Chris returned the grin giddily, slid off Zach and pulled him outside again. They skated some more, and after a while, the others joined them. Kristen had the brilliant idea that they use the garden hose so Zach could make real snow fall; Chris at first wasn't really as enthusiastic as the others were about that idea until Zach assured him that no, it wouldn't be too strenuous on him. He would be more tired than usual at the end of the day and perhaps have a slight headache, but making snow out of raindrops wasn't too hard (once he got the hang of it and learned not to make hail).

So they dug up the hats and scarves and gloves after all and had an awesome snowball fight in the backyard. Chris laughed so hard his belly hurt and it felt like the grin that was spreading across his face would never leave. It was the most fun he had had in years, he told Zach later that evening, when they went to bed even though it wasn't even nine in the evening, sleeping together in one bed even though they weren't really supposed to. He never complained about the weather again, or its unfitness for Christmas – at least for that year.


End file.
